Asia Bizz: The last old trains which have been chugging along on the tracks in Beijing for the past two decades will soon be replaced by some swanky new ones. After repeated complaints by passengers of the Beijing Subway Line 1, the transport authorities in China have announced that the last trains will be replaced by the end of this year.
On November 24, 2011, Zhang Wenqiang, an official from the Beijing municipal commission of transport, said in an interview said that 19 trains that have travelled on Line 1 since the 90s would be replaced by the end of 2011.
In some of the trains, Chinese passengers complained of lack of air conditioning, especially during summer season. The Line 1 is the busiest line in the system of Beijing as around 1.2 million to 1.3 million passenger trips take place everyday.
From the year 2008, the trains began to be improved. The same year, 20 old trains were taken out of operation and were replaced by trains with air conditioners. Commuting became unpleasant for all the passengers who took Line 1. Some of the passengers even fainted due to the heat inside the train. The commuters then started to take only the air conditioned trains even if they had to reach office late. With the introduction of newer trains, Chinese commuters can finally heave a sigh of relief.
